Australia's rain may have moved to Antarctica

A NEW attempt to explain the 40-year drought that has blighted the nation says it may be linked to heavy snowfall over Antarctica.

Tas van Ommen and Vin Morgan of the Australian Antarctic Division studied snowfall records in ice cores from East Antarctica's Law Dome. They found that in the last few decades, its snowfall rates far exceeded anything in the past 750 years. The timing matches the Australian drought (Nature Geoscience, DOI: 10.1038/ngeo761).

From the past 60 years of pressure and moisture data over the combined region, the team also found a link between the patterns of two atmospheric moisture "corridors". One has been blowing dry air from the Southern Ocean over south-west Australia since the beginning of the drought, whilst another is shifting moist air south towards Antarctica.

Van Ommen says a pressure system that lies between Antarctica and Australia may be ...

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